


Trust and Other Fables

by Simmerene (Myth979)



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Breathplay, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Dubious Consent, F/M, because Yalenna is a sith with Questionable Morals and specialty in brain fuckery, brain fuckery, complicated consent dynamics, no one here is a good person okay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:08:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23370694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Myth979/pseuds/Simmerene
Summary: Yalenna plans to rule the galaxy. She figures the general of a brainwashed army will be good backup.(a series of snippets in probably no recognizable order)
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aheshke](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aheshke/gifts).



> Look so like. Dubious consent because Yalenna has genuinely changed the makeup of Hux's brain somewhere here in the beginning, but after he's a significantly different person he's... into it?

“My knights,” Ren said.

There were fourteen of them. Hux wondered if there always had been, if Ren had chosen fourteen followers just for divisionary purposes: all of them had humanoid builds, all of them wore black, and none of them showed skin at all barring the one who had left a slit for their eyes under hood and face wrap.

“My lord,” that one said, with an ironic twist to the words that made Hux dart an immediate glance at Ren. Ren didn’t react, though Hux was unsure if it meant he didn’t care or didn’t notice. They had one of the slighter builds amongst the knights, still unmistakably muscular but shorter, the kind of muscle that said their usual use was not immediate combat, and Hux couldn’t see a lightsaber.

* * *

“You were a sniper, before Snoke ruined you,” Yalenna said. She squinted at the datapad in her hand. She needed glasses or surgery, Hux thought, it would take maybe an hour with the medics - he shouldn’t worry about her eyesight. 

“Snoke raised me up,” Hux retorted, recovering. “Ruined? I control the entire fleet of the First Order! I have the power of life and death over -”

“Ruined,” she said, cutting him off with the careless confidence of someone who knew he’d stop talking when she started. “Patience? Gone. Planning? Out the window. Where’s your instinct? Snoke wanted a lackey and it’s what he got.”

“As opposed to you?” he sneered.

“I want a right-hand man,” she replied. “Someone competent enough to get things done when I’m not here, and someone confident enough to tell me - in private - if my battle strategies are trash.” She tapped a display, made a face, and swiped it off her screen.

“The right-hand man of the right-hand woman of the right-hand man of Kylo Ren, who is Snoke’s right-hand man,” Hux said.

“The chain of command isn’t exactly steady,” Yalenna said absently, typing away at the datapad.

Hux said nothing. She finally looked up. “Have I shocked you? Did you think the Knights of Ren were led by an elected official? Were you expecting term limits and peaceable discussion? I killed three previous lieutenants to get where I am. Plenty of my subordinates have tried to kill me.”

“I thought you succeeded a man after he suicided.”

Yalenna blinked innocently, looking up at him through her lashes. “Of course, General. I’ll swear it in any court of law.”

Hux exhaled through his nose.

“It has the benefit of technically being true,” she said, shrugging. “I’m not a saber prodigy, though I’m admittedly less terrible than I let people think.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“I want you to trust me,” she said, grey eyes steady, lashes no longer fluttering. “I need somebody to trust, or I’ll never make it.”

“Make it where,” he said, less a question than it should have been.

“I’m going to rule the galaxy,” she said. “Obviously.”

* * *

“If I had a year or two I could make the whole fleet love me,” Yalenna said absently, looking down at the display with her arms crossed. “I don’t have the kind of time to devote to the one-on-one attention I’d need, so I have to stick with the senior officers.”

“Me,” Hux said, and she looked up at him.

“At the beginning. You don’t seem to mind.”

And, well. He didn’t. Would he have before her meddling?

“Does it matter?” she asked curiously.

“I suppose not."


	2. Chapter 2

“Let me be frank,” Yalenna said to the assembled officials. Hux raised an eyebrow at the man dangling in midair, clawing at his throat. “I am kind and understanding because it behooves me to listen to my subordinates.”

Another official floated out of his seat, though he didn’t seem to have any breathing difficulties. He looked nervous anyway. The next one down the row started floating, and the next, and the next.

“Often you have good advice,” Yalenna continued. The next official floated up to join the one before. She was halfway down the table now, Hux noted. Another official floated. “Sometimes you don’t, but brainstorming helps the entire command structure.”

Another one.

“Either way it keeps up morale,” she said. Another floated. “I appreciate the efficiency that comes with all of those aspects.” 

Another.

“It’s always better when you feel you can come to me with problems and ideas.” Another.

“I like my subordinates to be happy with their jobs.” The one next to Hux floated, and he braced himself, but he stayed in his seat.

“My tolerance of you comes from a wish for effectiveness and expediency,” Yalenna told the twelve floating officials, including the one turning purple in the face. “When you cease to be effective or expedient, I will cease to be tolerant. General, is there an acceptable replacement for Captain Vous on the Fervent at the moment?”

“Not at the moment,” Hux replied. “I suppose you could promote someone off another ship, but that’s always messy.”

She held them there another long moment, looking each in the eyes in turn. Then she smiled, and they all were lowered gently into their chairs. Vous collapsed onto the table, coughing and choking, heaving for breath.

“Do better, please,” Yalenna told them all, and with a flick of her fingers a glass of water moved next to Vous’ elbow. 

“Commodore, I believe your report is next,” Hux said into the silence. The assembled officials eyed him with nearly as much wariness as they eyed Yalenna. Hux appreciated it.

* * *

“It isn’t that I’m complaining,” Hux said later, when the rest had filed out. Yalenna was on her datapad again, still holding it too close to her face.

“Dragging you around like a sack of tubers in front of them would have undermined your authority,” she said before he could continue, not looking up. “I need your authority un-undermined.”

“You aren’t worried it’ll go to my head?”

Her force lifts didn’t feel like Kylo Ren’s, which was strange. Granted he was also not being lifted by the throat, which might account for it, though even as he thought it a band of pressure appeared there. It didn’t constrict his breathing, but it was undeniably present.

“Did you feel left out?” she asked mildly.

He realized he wasn’t panicking, and considered: he hadn’t done anything wrong. They were alone, and he hadn’t questioned her out of anything more than honest curiosity, which she would be able to pick up and which was probably why he could breathe.

“Well yes,” she said, though it wasn’t out loud. When he concentrated he could feel her in his mind. He found it less intrusive than he should.

_ Eventually I’ll be able to look out of all the senior officers’ eyes,  _ she said.  _ You’re easiest. You don’t struggle, and you don’t hate it.  _

“Mind control?”

She raised an eyebrow.  _ Do you feel controlled?  _

“Incredibly,” he said dryly.

He could feel her considering, which was strange but not uncomfortable.  _ You don’t seem displeased. _

“I suppose it’s better than being strangled.”

She snorted and set him down again.

“Snoke can talk to me anywhere in the universe,” she said, aloud again. “It’s sad that he doesn’t usually bother.”

“Why not?”

She smiled sweetly, which Hux knew even without the feeling in his head meant she was being anything but. “He finds my mind uncomfortable.”

“Unfortunate.”

“Terribly,” she agreed.

Later, reflecting on the whole experience, he realized - all of the senior officers?

_ Don’t worry,  _ Yalenna said from across the ship. He felt something along the top of his head, under his cap, as if someone had run their fingers through his hair, only his reflection in the plexiglass showed no movement of cap or hair.  _ You’ll still be my favorite. _


	3. Chapter 3

“Nobody can react that fast even if they get the orders in time,” their navigator said, fingers laying in the orders anyway as comms began frantically relaying instructions.

Hux shot him a look, though he wasn’t wrong.

_ Tell me,  _ Yalenna said, though she didn’t wait for him to explain, just delved into his memories. 

The navigator’s fingers paused for a fraction of a second, and Hux felt a momentary  _ something, _ and the five star destroyers swung in perfect sync, focusing on the ship, none of them firing at exactly the same vital point. The combined onslaught blew the dreadnaught to pieces.

“That’s a one-in-a-million maneuver,” Captain Shrever said blankly. “It would have been if we’d planned it. It would have been if we’d  _ practiced  _ it.”

_ I might have spoken with most of the bridge crews on my visits,  _ Yalenna said.

_ Not mind control my ass,  _ Hux thought at her, but he was too stunned to be displeased.

_ Not often,  _ she said.  _ It’s too tiring. I’m going to need to rest later. _

Kriff.  _ Where are you right now? _

_ Fervent’s bridge.  _

_ Sending a shuttle. _

_ I am currently the only thing between the crew and the vacuum of space,  _ she said, amusement coming through loud and clear.

“Get me Fervent’s status,” Hux snapped.

“Already reporting, sir,” comms said. “Three major hull breaches.They’re saying - sir, they’re saying Knight Yalenna is holding the air in?”

“Then maybe,” Hux said tightly, “instead of  _ marveling  _ we should be sending a repair crew  _ and some shuttles _ ?”

“Yessir,” comms replied. “Sir, Captain Vous for you.”

“I advise immediate evacuation, General,” Vous shouted, making the bridge crew of the Adamant wince.

“Knight Yalenna has appraised me of the situation,” Hux replied. “Shuttles are scrambling now, and repairs will follow.”

Vous shot a nervous look over his shoulder, voice lowering to a whisper. “She’s just floating there, sir, but she’s doing  _ something.”  _

“Saving your ship, Captain,” Hux snapped. “I suggest you-”

_ No no, let him talk about my mysterious doings,  _ Yalenna said.  _ This is boring.  _

He ignored her, which seemed to amuse her - “organize the speediest evacuation possible and make sure she is on one of those shuttles. It is your responsibility, Captain, to ensure the safety of such a precious resource.”

Yalenna gave a mocking  _ awwww.  _

_ Are you intoxicated?  _ he demanded. 

He felt her frown.  _ You try making seven different people in seven different star destroyers act in tandem and see how you come out of it.  _

“If anything happens to the knight or your crew, you will be held personally responsible,” Hux said, and terminated the connection.

_ First I had to  _ find  _ the navigators,  _ Yalenna continued.  _ Then I had to hijack them- _

_ How is that different from -  _

_ Oh, you’re comfortable,  _ she said. He had the impression she was waving a hand.  _ You just let me right on in, and you don’t yell at me the whole time.  _

_ How dare they. _

_ I didn’t have time for explanations and they would have been uncomfortable anyway, why bother?  _ she asked reasonably.

_ Is oxygen deprivation affecting you? _

She considered.  _ You know, actually, that might be a concern. I’m holding it here but I didn’t think of making sure life support was doing everything it should. _

_ Really? _

_ I am not an engineer,  _ she said with some indignation.  _ This isn’t my area of expertise. _

“Shuttles  _ quickly,”  _ Hux ordered, ignoring the sidelong looks some of the crew gave him. “They don’t have circulating oxygen  _ or  _ heat.”

_ I don’t feel like my achievements are being appreciated here,  _ she said. 

“I’ll appreciate you when you get back,” Hux snapped, and realized he’d said it out loud. 

_ You should work on that. _

“Some force users are more hands on than Snoke,” he said to no one in particular.

Someone snickered, and Yalenna said  _ I know who that was but I’m not telling you.  _

_ Put on an oxygen mask why don’t you. _

_ No, hang on - dammit, another fire.  _ She withdrew.

Since Hux could see the shuttles from all star destroyers already deploying, he didn’t give another order. As they watched, a piece of the Fervent broke off, leaving four figures floating for a bare moment before they moved as if yanked back into the bulk of the ship.

“One person’s doing that?” someone said, awed.

“One Knight of Ren is doing that,” someone else said.

“Glad she’s on our side.”

Navigation said shakily,  _ “So  _ glad.”

“Hold it together, crewman,” Hux ordered. “That was an honor.”

He wasn’t at all sure it was true, but it  _ had  _ saved the fleet so it all evened out.

“Sir,” Navigation said, straightening.

_ And don’t you dare start moving the shuttles around,  _ Hux thought at Yalenna.  _ The pilots know what they’re doing.  _

She didn’t respond.

It took half an hour for the shuttles to load - an infeasibly short time if Yalenna wasn’t helping them along,  _ which she should not be doing,  _ he thought at her again, still with no response.

_ Here,  _ she said after a suitable amount of time.  _ Come and get me.  _

Before she’d been playful, usually she was stern or marginally amused. She sounded strained now, which he hadn’t known a mind voice could sound like.

Because you’ve heard so many, he thought to himself.

When he arrived in the shuttle bay she hadn’t emerged yet, though a lieutenant directed him to the appropriate shuttle. When he approached, Vous appeared in the hatch.

“She’s awake I think,” Vous said. “Technically.”

_ I’m very tired,  _ Yalenna told Hux as he stepped in. She sat in the copilot’s chair, eyes closed and hands limp on the arms.

_ Planning to sleep here?  _ he asked.

_ I don’t want everyone to see me like this.  _

_ I told you not to do anything with the shuttles.  _

_ I’m very tired,  _ she said again.

Hux glared at her.

“Lieutenant,” Vous began nervously.

“That’s not her rank,” Hux said. 

Vous winced. “I don’t-”

_ I think I can stand with some help,  _ Yalenna offered.

Hux sighed deeply, reached down, and yanked her up. She staggered, eyes opening abruptly, to give him a glare of her own.  _ Some warning next time would be -  _

“Talk out loud,” Hux said. “We’re making Vous uncomfortable.”

_ Like you care,  _ she said, but croaked out loud, “I would appreciate an escort to my quarters, General.”

“Of course, Lady Yalenna,” Hux said. The rank still wasn’t quite right, and he could feel how it amused her, but what title did she even technically have? Ren was commander of the Knights of Ren, did that leave her actually a lieutenant? The lack of organization was astounding.

_ Bureaucrat,  _ she said, and took a step forward. Her progress was painfully slow, but she wouldn’t let Hux help her either.

_ How exactly do you plan to get to your quarters like this?  _ he asked just before she staggered.

“One word,” she snarled at Vous, who hadn’t said anything and looked as if he too could be knocked over with a feather.

_ They can’t see me like this,  _ she said. 

_ Do you plan to sleep here?  _ Hux asked again.  _ Right now you’re a hero. Let them see the toll it took to save a crew, and that you’re willing to give it. Who else would? _

She took a breath and considered.

“General Hux,” she said finally. “I require assistance.”

“If you insist,” Hux said, and picked her up with an ease that surprised him more than it should have - he constantly forgot how short she was.

_ Ugh,  _ she said, and did her best to sit up straight. 


	4. Chapter 4

“She can only be in one place at a time…” the knight trailed off. Hux wondered exactly how many people Yalenna had made feel like her within the force, and why, obscurely, he was irritated that she hadn’t done it to him.

“Visual confirmation needed,” the knight said into his comm, looking out over the bridge, where a sea of stony faces looked back at him. A crew used to Yalenna’s light hand was not going to take well to the kind of tactics Kylo Ren or those like him employed, and that was ignoring the Fervent’s and Adamant’s crews and their fanatical devotion.

And, to be honest, Hux’s fanatical devotion. He had to get out of here before someone looked closely at his brain or his person.

_ You should be fine,  _ Yalenna said.  _ These idiots wouldn’t know residual force signatures if I held one up and tried to explain. _

_ And yet they can tell all the people you- _

_ That’s not residual,  _ she said impatiently.  _ I’m making them shine like beacons. If Kylo shows up you may have a problem, but I can’t feel him anywhere here. _

“Encountering token resi-” 

The knight on the Adamant tapped his comm as if that was the problem and not that the transmission had been cut off at the source.

_ Fervent,  _ Yalenna said.  _ Those idiots. _

She said it fondly though.

The knight on Adamant’s bridge ordered, “Fire on the Fervent.”

No one moved.

“Fire,” he snapped.

“Are you going to make us?” a lieutenant asked. 

Hux thought his tone was too cocky for the situation, but he couldn’t help but smile crookedly when the knight looked back at him as if for backup. “Can’t you?” Hux asked mildly.

“Knight Yalenna could,” Shrever commented. 

The knight ignited his lightsaber. The people closest to him shifted away, but nobody moved farther even as he raised it. The bright red hurt Hux’s eyes.

_ You idiots,  _ Yalenna said, which Hux had the feeling everyone on the bridge could hear, and she came out of nowhere with a punch to the knight’s jaw.

“How long has she been sitting on the bridge?” Shrever asked.

“Hell if I know.”

_ Now  _ everyone moved.

“How long have you been hiding in the walls?” the knight asked.

Yalenna tried to kick his knee. He twisted aside, and Hux hauled her lightsaber out of his boot, flicked off the safety cover on the ignition, and tossed it to her.

The knight laughed as the saber hummed to life. Yalenna’s was darker red - brown almost, like old blood.

“You’d have done better to stay in the walls, Yali,” he said. “You know you’re no good with that.”

“Unfortunately true,” Yalenna agreed, but she lunged anyway.

Hux began to see what she’d meant when she said she wasn’t gifted with a lightsaber. She moved with force-aided reflexes, but the other knight moved faster. She aimed with precision, but the other knight just wasn’t there when her saber landed. She parried, but barely.

“Don’t try to get in my head, Yali,” the knight said. “I know how you beat Cros.”

“Cros was stupid,” Yalenna said through gritted teeth. “It’s better that I weeded him out early.”

She shoved, and he skidded back a step. Yalenna didn’t pursue - Hux could feel how tired she was just from this. 

_ Of all the things,  _ he thought at her,  _ this is what you’re going to let beat you? A man with a laser sword? _

“Shut up please,” she said. “I really have to concentrate.”

“Which one are you talking to, Yali? You always liked pets.”

Yalenna attacked again, but Hux could tell the other knight was playing with her, and the crew could too, and Yalenna knew they could. It made her angrier, but the edge of fear that Hux realized had been there since she’d shown herself was growing.

_ Yalenna - _

_ NO. _

Hux looked out the windows and saw the other ships arming, Fervent not excepted, though it was moving into a guarding position beside the Adamant. Yalenna couldn’t keep up the false force signatures anymore.

“Fuck,” he said, the sound ringing through the bridge, and more of the crew looked.

He couldn’t even feel Yalenna in his mind anymore. She was too focused on the knight, who still led her on, baiting her with openings and stinging her arms without real intent to injure.

Well, that wouldn’t do, Hux thought with cold clarity, reaching for his blaster and firing.

His was not the only blast, he realized. The bridge crew stood with blasters drawn, their first shots having gone wild but at least giving the knight something else to think about.

Yalenna, who had leapt back and behind a console to avoid the ricochet, stared in blank astonishment.

“We’re really very fond of her,” Hux told the knight, and opened fire again, in sync with the rest of the bridge crew.

Yalenna, he noted in the back of his mind, seemed to have disappeared again. Hiding?

No, she’d swung around behind the knight, hand coming up under his chin to his throat and squeezing. He froze, and the blasters quieted.

“Mercy,” he said after a long moment.

“Absolutely not,” she replied, and clenched her fist. He shriveled under her touch, armor and helmet falling to the ground with a clatter.

“Well,” she said, rolling her shoulders. “That’s better.”

The holes in her uniform, Hux couldn’t help but notice, showed healed skin underneath.

_ Did you just suck the life out of someone? _

_ Absolutely,  _ she said.  _ And it felt  _ good.

“Open comms, sir?” Comms asked.

“Do please,” Yalenna replied, now stretching her neck and giving herself a shake as if she had been covered in water. “Attention Knights of Ren,” she continued, standing to attention. “If you attempt further damage to my fleet, I will have to do something drastic.”

“That’s your announcement?” Hux demanded.

“Mmhmm,” she said, settling against a console, arms and ankles crossed. “Let’s see what they do.”

One of the ships fired. Yalenna sighed.

“Traitors,” Navigation muttered.

“Not everyone can be so loyal as my best and brightest,” Yalenna said expansively. “Hail the Fervent, if you would.”

“Lady Yalenna,” Vous said, ramrod straight. 

“Yalenna’s fine for you,” she said. “Damage report?”

“All traitors dead or in the brig awaiting your judgment, as you asked,” Vous replied.

Hux suppressed a surge of jealousy, but not well. Yalenna shot a grin at him over her shoulder.

_ Still my favorite,  _ she said, and turned back to Vous. “I meant the ship and crew, Captain.” 

“Ready for your orders.”

“Does it bother anyone that we’re two ships against twenty-five?” Yalenna asked curiously.

“Captains, report,” Hux said instead of answering.

“Peril, ready for your orders, Lady Yalenna.”

“Assault, ready.”

“Calamity.”

Half the ships reported in. Hux did not pretend he wasn’t smug.

“The knights of Ren are somewhat less intimidating than previously supposed,” Captain Aerea of Rampant said. “I have this one’s head as a console decoration.”

“They really aren’t very good at strategy,” Yalenna agreed. “Comes from poor leadership, I think.”

“Speaking of strategy,” Hux said. “Destroyers, ion canons at this range.”

“Hold onto that for just a moment,” Yalenna ordered, reaching out, spreading her hands, and lightning appeared in the vacuum of space.

The opposing ships stopped.

_ We aren’t really sith, you know,  _ Yalenna confided to Hux, and he turned in time to see her smug smile.  _ Well.  _ They  _ aren’t. Hangers on, cultists, order-followers, sheep- _

_ You’re monologuing. _

_ I am different,  _ she said.  _ You know it, and I always have. _

“Comms,” she said, and stood. “I am Lady Yalenna of the Sith. Challenge me if you dare.”

This time, no one fired.

“Then report.”

Time passed. Yalenna waited.

“This is Knight Harla, on the Exeter,” a gravelly voice said. “I pledge my allegiance to the Lady Yalenna.”

_ You’re damn right you do, you sanctimonious sack of hutt spit,  _ Hux heard Yalenna mutter in her mind.

The others answered too.


	5. Chapter 5

It was confusing inside Hux’s head right now. He was almost sure he could separate his feelings from Yalenna’s, but since they were both riding high on triumph and adrenaline it was harder than usual. There was a kind of crackling under his skin.

It wouldn’t have been unpleasant at all - might even feel good - if he could figure out what it was. He kept trying to shake it off, only it wouldn’t go, which meant it could only be force-related shenanigans.

Since Yalenna kept shaking out her shoulders, he suspected the sensation came from her.

_ I feel really good,  _ she said with no hint of apology.  _ It seems to be spilling over. _

_ No one else is acting like - like - whatever. _

_ No,  _ she agreed, and let whatever she was feeling spill over more, he assumed, because his entire body shuddered without his say so. He felt suddenly as if he’d had eight hours of sleep,a full meal, and a cup of caf, which was nothing short of extraordinary given that he didn’t think he’d eaten anything in twenty-four hours and had managed about two hours of sleep in the last two days. The crackling continued, but a little mysterious sensitivity was a small price to pay.

_ You should suck the life out of people more often,  _ he said.

Her response was to make him feel one of the phantom touches she liked to use to remind him she was there. It felt even more possessive than usual, as if firm fingers carded through his hair and down the side of his neck.

His entire body, top to toe, said,  _ oh.  _

Yalenna snickered inside his head and withdrew.

* * *

“You’re as bad as she is,” Shrever told Hux.

“What?”

“Have you slept? Possibly ever? In your life? Lady Yalenna was half dead earlier and now she’s running ship to ship, but at least she did her Sith thing.”

“Oh, she did something,” Hux said, waving it off. “I’m fine.”

Shrever relaxed, as if Yalenna doing something meant everything really was fine, and inspected Hux. “Even the circles under your eyes are gone.”

“She’s thorough.”

“One of her best qualities,” Shrever said. 

“ _ You’re _ the favorite,” one of the knights said.

Hux glanced up: there was no way to read any of the knights’ expressions, what with the masks, but he didn’t think the man was being friendly. 

“I don’t advise trying to kill me in my sleep,” Hux told him. 

_ Kill you?  _ Yalenna asked, and reached out. The knight’s hand went to his own throat.

“I’m not averse to one less knight, Lady Yalenna, but is he one you can spare?” Shrever asked.

Slowly the knight relaxed. Then a crack sounded and he fell forward, neck broken. 

_ Grab him,  _ she ordered Hux. He obeyed, and felt the energy pass through him and off towards Yalenna as the body disintegrated.

Yalenna told them all,  _ I don’t like my people threatened.  _

Hux felt a quick pat on the cheek before she removed her psychic presence.

“She can look through most of us,” Shrever explained to the motionless living knights.

One of them turned to look at the others. “Weak,” he said dryly. “Meek. Kylo’s tagalong.”

“Say it again,” Hux suggested pleasantly. “Or can’t you speak mind to mind? Yalenna can.”

_ “Yalenna,”  _ one of the other knights muttered, but nothing else.

The fizzing under Hux’s skin was stronger now, and he realized he’d just tried to shake it off like Yalenna always did. It did, he realized, feel good.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look the beginning of this part is what made aheshke say "THE WHOLE FIC OKAY I NEED IT" so congrats, friend. You got something vaguely ficlike.

“What _is_ this?” Hux asked, gesturing down and around himself.

“What?” Yalenna asked. “Oh. No, you’re just feeling me. I told you I felt good.”

“There’s _good_ and then there’s… whatever this is.”

The sensation that followed was like a caress but inside his brain, and his knees buckled. He braced his feet and glared.

Yalenna grinned back. “Good?”

He glared some more.

She sighed. “You have this pathological need to not feel good, Hux. It’s a problem. Your clothes are just a little too tight, your room is just a little too cold -”

“Maybe I like it that way.”

Suddenly he was warmer all over - literally warmer. He sighed in spite of himself.

“Of course,” Yalenna said. The mockery was clear. “Also, you don’t want to be touched. Ever. That’s for other people.”

“You are infuriating,” he began, but she was in front of him and loosening his collar before he finished, and really, what was the point? He swallowed instead. It admittedly felt better without the band of pressure.

Of course, she replaced the collar with her hand, but it was still better than the collar. Her thumb pressed gently against his pulse point as he swallowed again.

“Yeah,” she said without any decency whatsoever: she could pretend to be surprised.

He gasped when she let him go, though really she hadn’t been squeezing hard enough to do anything but let him know her hand was there. She stepped away, crooking a finger, and he followed. She turned and walked towards his bedroom, and he followed. The door whooshed open, she entered, and yes, he followed.

“Gloves,” she said, tugging her own off finger by finger. He obeyed, and she stood on tip-toe to flick his hat off his head. He looked down to watch her unbuckle his belt but she reached up and tipped his head back where she apparently wanted it before she went back to the buckle. 

She tossed the belt aside with the same lack of care as she had his hat, and his jacket after that, and undid his pants but didn’t ask him to remove them or his undershirt. A tiny shove sent him falling onto the bed, panting as he looked up at her for the first time.

Yalenna let her hood fall back and loosened her own collar as she kicked off her boots and socks and sat cross-legged on the bed near his head. He watched her the whole time, and when she’d settled he sat up to turn and reach for her ankle - 

“I didn’t say you could touch me,” Yalenna said as he was pressed firmly back to the bed, his wrist put back by his side. She did it without moving herself, because of course she did.

 _Stay there for now,_ she said in his head.

Hux nodded, angling his neck so he could still see her. She smiled, and he realized the position meant he’d exposed all of his throat as the pressure started.

 _Unfair,_ he thought, not purposefully sending it to her but she laughed anyway.

“Did you want me to stop?” she asked even as she pressed harder.

He shook his head, feeling his hair fall into his face.

“Mm,” she hummed, and in his head he felt another, what, brain caress? He stopped worrying about terminology as it went on, straining to show more of his throat, back arching off the bed but not on purpose as little starbursts started going off in the corners of his vision. He didn’t want to look away but he might have to in a moment.

The pressure let up abruptly and he stayed where he was, back arched, neck stretched out and exposed, gasping for breath. The little flutters of sensation in his mind hadn’t stopped but they had slowed and lightened. 

“Mm,” Yalenna said again. She’d leaned forward so she could put an elbow on her knee and lean her chin against her hand. “I thought you were going to be a challenge, Hux.”

He had to swallow twice - she hadn’t stopped whatever she was doing in his brain - before he could say, “I don’t know what gave you that idea.”

Her eyes swept over him, from now-messy hair to still-booted feet, and he shuddered.

Her datapad pinged.

“Stay like that,” she said, reaching for it. “I mean it this time. No squirming.”

Hux mustered a glare, but she ignored it as she keyed open the communication’s function. “Yalenna.”

“Lady Yalenna,” Shrever said. “Apologies, you didn’t answer your room comm or the office-”

“Perhaps because I am in neither,” she said. “What seems to be the problem?”

Hux considered shifting to ease his back. Yalenna shot him a narrow-eyed look, and he jolted in surprise as his legs were yanked apart as if by authoritative hands.

 _If you’re going to move, you’re going to move attractively,_ Yalenna informed him, and he made a tiny sound he wasn’t sure he could classify. His hands were moved to rest above his head as Yalenna continued to discuss - fuck, what was it, he’d swear Shrever had said - 

The pressure at his throat started again, slow but sure. He pressed his lips together and refused to make any noise at all.

He was pretty sure he failed at that, but he couldn’t say for sure. The brain flutters had stepped up their game. They didn’t feel like hands were on him, but he felt the same as he would have if Yalenna had been running her hands over him. The distinction was small but definite.

“Thanks,” Yalenna said. She cut the audio at the same time she lifted the invisible hand from Hux’s throat. The noise he let out was an undignified sort of _guh._ Other than his heaving chest, he didn’t move. The brain flutters stopped.

“Shrever’s having some classified data delivered to me in a moment,” she informed him. “I am deeply tempted to let whoever it is see you like this.”

“No you aren’t,” Hux rasped. 

Yalenna laughed. “No?”

“No,” he confirmed.

Her hand shot out, grabbing his hair and yanking his head back. He hissed, and his fingers flexed, but he managed not to move other than that.

“Why not?” she asked mildly.

It was hard to concentrate with her hand in his hair, pulling just right, but he didn’t need to concentrate much to know what to say.

“Because I’m yours,” he told the ceiling, since he couldn’t turn to look at her. “I’m not anybody else’s to see.”

 _Feeling_ hit him everywhere, like a thousand people who knew how to touch him in exactly the right way on every part of him, only it was Yalenna, it was all Yalenna -

 _“Sithspit,”_ he gasped at the end of it, no memory of how he had ended up curled around Yalenna like… like something very clingy. Fuck. He didn’t know.

“Not my kink, but if you really want,” Yalenna said, petting his hair. He shuddered when her fingertips grazed his neck.

“How long?” he asked blearily. “Did the package-”

Yalenna snickered. “Fifteen seconds, maybe. You know, I should have just been a courtesan or something and seduced my way up, if I’m this good at -”

His grip tightened on her leg as the chime to his entry door sounded.

“It’s no good to be possessive of me,” Yalenna told him, hand stilling. He made his fingers relax, one by one, and she stood, laying him back in the position he’d been in before with one last lingering squeeze of his throat with her actual hand, which made his whole body jerk.

She muttered something under her breath and went into the main room, door closing quickly behind her.


End file.
